Trojans Have Home-Opening Series Against Fort Wayne

LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock baseball returns to Gary Hogan Field for their home-opening series against Fort Wayne this weekend. Game one of the series will be on Friday at 3 p.m. with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and then game four on Sunday at 1 p.m. to close the series.
 
TROJANS TO WATCH FOR
Junior Nick Perez had a phenomenal game against Central Arkansas doing it all for the Trojans. He went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs from a first-inning home run. Not only was his bat lethal, but he got the job done on the mound as well for Little Rock by picking up the win. He pitched in the big time moments through extra innings and ended the game with three strikeouts, zero earned runs and zero hits against five batters.

Junior outfielder, Troy Alexander continues to dominate at the plate. In four games he's seen 17 at bats and hit an average on .471.  He has recorded an RBI in each game while getting multiple hits and at least one double in three of the four games.

When the game is on the line, the Trojans turn to, as expected, the senior right-handed reliever Justin Garcia. In three appearances he has seen 6.2 innings pitched while holding a 0.00 ERA — one of 49 pitchers in Division I with an ERA of 0.00 and over six innings pitched. In game two versus Tennessee Tech he recorded a two and two-thirds innings save getting four strikeouts. In the last game versus rivals Central Arkansas he was brought in the sixth with the game tied, a runner on second and two outs, and got the strikeout to end the inning. He continued on the mound through the ninth and kept the game tied including striking out the side in 1-2-3 fashion in the seventh. His strikeout total on the season is 12 while only giving up four walks and three hits.
 
ON THE MOUND FOR LITTLE ROCK
The Trojans (2-2) will start the series off Friday with sophomore Carter Brown on the mound for his start of the year. Brown has seen two relief appearances on the year pitching 2.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA, three strikeouts and two hits.  In 2017, Brown had eight starts and 14 appearances as a freshman ending with a 3-2 win/loss record and 5.94 ERA.

Saturday's doubleheader will feature redshirt senior Cole Townsend in game one and sophomore Chandler Fidel in game two. Townsend had a strong showing against offensive heavyweight Tennessee Tech on Sunday. He lasted 4.1 innings while giving up five hits, three earned-runs, striking out three and walking one before handing the ball off. Fidel started the season opener for the Trojans and struggled giving up six earned-runs off nine hits and two home runs in just 3.0 innings pitched. He saw a relief appearance against Central Arkansas where he pitched 2.2 innings and gave up no runs, only one hit and struck out two in the crucial middle innings leading to a Trojan victory.

Sunday's starter to close the series will be sophomore McKinley Moore. Moore started in game two of a doubleheader last Sunday against Tennessee Tech in a game where the Golden Eagle bats seemed angry. In the 3.0 innings-pitched loss by Moore, he gave up five runs (four of them earned) off five hits and walking four while only striking out two.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Trojans are coming off a 6-5 extra-innings win against rivals Central Arkansas at Bear Stadium. It marked the first time the Trojans won at Bear Stadium since 2011. Little Rock had an early 5-0 lead before giving it up in the third inning. The game remained at 5-5 as the pitching for both sides dominated. After seven consecutive scoreless innings, the Trojans got a run in the top of the 11th after Marcus Ragan hit a single to right scoring Kale Emshoff from second. Nick Perez, who was the MVP of the night, closed out the game striking out the first two batter and then grounding out the third to seal the victory.

SCOUTING FORT WAYNE 
Fort Wayne (1-2) faced off against SWAC opponent Alabama A&M to open their season and dropped the series 1-2. Their offense brought in seven run in two of their games and was lead behind first-baseman Travis Upp and catcher Dylan Wilbert. Over the three games Upp went 6-10 at the plate with two RBIs and the only home run on the season for the Mastodons. Wilbert went 6-9 with a three RBIs and a 667 on-base percentage.

The Fort Wayne was not a high-volume strikeout team over the weekend only tallying 18 in the three games. The starters were able to go longer innings averaging four and two-thirds innings between the three but also gave up an average of three runs on the weekend. Combine that with the early power bats the Trojans have showed, the game could see some early runs.

SERIES AGAINST FORT WAYNE
The Trojans have fared well against Fort Wayne in the past going 11-4 overall. This will be the third year in a row the two programs have faced other in a four-game series — all at Gary Hogan Field. In 2016, the Mastodons claimed the series 1-3, but the Trojans dominated last season, sweeping the series 4-0 and outscoring them 34-10.

ON DECK
After the four-game home opening series against Fort Wayne, the Trojans will travel to Stillwater, Okla. to face Big-12 opponent Oklahoma State in a two-game series beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. followed by a game Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Cowboys faced Sun-Belt opponent Texas State in their opening series going 2-1 against the Bobcats.